1892 Biography - D. T. Merrick

D. T. Merrick E. Feliciana Parish, Louisiana D. T. Merrick is at the present time one of the progressive planters of Points Coupee parish, La., but was born in East Feliciana parish in 1842, a son of E. T. Merrick, a native of Massachusetts, and Caroline E. (Thomas) Merrick, a native Louisianian and a daughter of Captain Thomas of this state, who was an officer under General Jackson in the War of 1812. E. T. Merrick was chief justice of Louisiana in 1856, which office he held for twelve or more years, but prior to this was district judge of the old Seventh Judicial district. He is now actively engaged in the practice of law at New Orleans, where his knowledge of his profession and legal ability have built him up a paying clientage. D. T. Merrick attended the common schools until about sixteen years of age, after which, until the opening of the war, he was a student in Centenary college of Jackson, La., and was in the junior class when the war broke out. He at once left school to offer his services to the confederacy and was soon after elected to the rank of first lieutenant of Company A, Fifteenth Louisiana regiment, and in 1862 was promoted to the rank of captain of the same company. He served under Jackson and was a participant in twelve hotly contested battles, and in one of them, Mine river, was severely wounded, the ball entering just above the ear on the right side of the head and coming out just below the ear on the left side. After recovering from this wound he was transferred to a bureau office in the trans-Mississippi department. Mr. Merrick intended to follow a profession after the war, but on account of the injury he had received from his wound he was advised by his physician to lead an active life, and accordingly at once engaged in farming. He was elected and re-elected magistrate of this parish for twenty years and is now a member of the National Cotton Planter's association, and has taken a deep interest in everything pertaining to his calling. He adopts all advanced ideas that are for the best interests of cotton growing and raises large crops of this staple product annually. He keeps his plantation in an excellent state of cultivation and has his place fitted up with all the modern conveniences, such as windmills, animal power, patent self-opening gates, etc. He has three steam cotton-gins and grist and sawmills and handles about 500 bales of cotton yearly. He raises some fine standard-bred trotting horses, of which enterprise he is making a decided success, and a considerable portion of his fine plantation is devoted to their use. Of the 6,000 acres of land of which he is the owner, he has 2,000 acres under cultivation and 2,000 in cypress timber. At the close of the war he was without means whatsoever, and his present valuable property has been acquired since that time by honest and persistent endeavor. He is a Knight Templar in the Masonic fraternity. In 1873 he was married to Miss Dowdell of Alabama by whom he has three children: Elizabeth, who is attending school in Georgia and is in the junior class, Lucy Coff institute; Caroline, who is attending school at Auburn, Ala., and E. T. Jr., who is attending a preparatory school of the University of Alabama. Mr. Merrick and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. He has a beautiful home on the banks of the Atchafalaya river near the mouth of Red river, which is the result of fine financial ability, many years of persevering toil, and strict honesty in all his business dealings. He is a man whose enterprise and energy are well worthy of emulation, and as a public-spirited citizen he has no superior.

Contributed 2021 Nov 04 by Mike Miller, from Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Louisiana, volume 2, pages 248-251.